TASA Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching in Australian Sociology

This award, first offered in 2015, celebrates outstanding contributions to enhancing the pedagogy, practice or outcomes of teaching and learning sociology in Australia. It recognises contributions at the disciplinary level (rather than acknowledging excellence in teaching within the classroom or institutions). Examples of disciplinary-level contributions include innovations in teaching that increase the impact of sociology teaching beyond university contexts, improve student access, experience and outcomes, or inform disciplinary approaches to learning and teaching Evidence of these achievements may be demonstrated through feedback from students or peers, and/or through publications (peer-reviewed, policy or general), presentations, media, or other relevant indicators.

In this context, outstanding contributions to the teaching of sociology may be made within or beyond teaching activities in universities.

Nominations for the award will be judged against the criterion of significant impact on teaching within the discipline of sociology.

Process

No more than one Award will be made each year, unless there are unusual and compelling reasons to make two Awards. The award may be granted to a single nominee or to a team. All nominees must be TASA members.

It is not necessary to make an Award every year, and it is to be expected that there may be years when an Award is not made.

The Award will comprise an engraved trophy and certificate. Recipients will be invited to write an opinion piece about some aspect of their work for publication in Nexus, TASA Blog, Journal of Sociology or any other publication TASA may sponsor at the time of the Award. A list of Award winners will be maintained on the TASA web site.

The Executive will call for nominations each year, with nominations closing June 15. The Award will be presented at the TASA Conference in the same year. This time schedule may be altered in any year at the discretion of the Executive. Recipients shall be offered the same assistance as other TASA prize winners to enable them to attend the prize presentation.

The written nomination must respond to the criterion in no more than 1000 words and must be accompanied by a two-page (maximum) curriculum vitae of the nominee. The CV should focus on work and outputs related to the nomination. Applicants may submit other materials (ie multimedia) with their nomination form. The nomination form must be signed and supported by two TASA members.

Nominations will be considered by the Executive as a whole. At its discretion the Executive may assign this task to a sub-committee chaired by the President or Vice-President, with the decision to be ratified by the whole Executive.

The Teaching Excellence Award process will be covered by the TASA grievance procedures. Apart from this, the Executive’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.